National mag publishes fabricated report attacking Corsi book

A major national publication that endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008 today published a completely fabricated news story claiming Jerome Corsi’s new best-selling “Where’s the Birth Certificate,” published by WND Books, has been disavowed by the publisher and taken out of stores nationwide, with refunds offered to purchasers.

Esquire, established in 1932, alleged on its website today under a “BREAKING” headline that Corsi’s book was “pulled from shelves!”

Media are calling WND from around the world about the false report.

WND founder and CEO Joseph Farah confirmed he never spoke to Esquire.

“Never uttered these words or anything remotely resembling them to anyone,” he said. “It is a complete fabrication.”

Farah said, “The book is selling briskly. I am 100 percent behind it. This has all the earmarkings of a White House dirty trick – but, of course, only the Nixon administration was capable of dirty tricks like that, according to our watchdog media.”

The Esquire “report”:

The Esquire report, written by Mark Warren, the executive editor, called it a “stunning development” that “Where’s the Birth Certificate? The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President” was being recalled amid plans to “pulp the entire 200,000 first printing run of the book, as well as announcing an offer to refund the purchase price to anyone who has already bought either a hard copy or electronic download of the book.”

Farah said the Esquire attack is “a prima facie example of libel and attempt at restraint of trade.”

“This is an astonishingly reckless report by a company that has demonstrated its total disregard for the truth,” said Farah. “I don’t know who Esquire’s anonymous sources are, but I can only guess that their address is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

Farah surmised Esquire will claim the article is parody, but he points out that news organizations around the world were contacting him within minutes of its posting on the Internet, with some in doubt as to the veracity of the report.

The article includes fictional quotes from Farah and Corsi – neither of whom spoke to Esquire or were asked for comment.

“We are exploring our legal options right now,” said Farah. “There is no question of damages from this irresponsible attack. This book was released yesterday. Our author is in day two of a media tour. This report is playing havoc with a bestselling book – and there is little question that is the intent.”

WND Managing Editor David Kupelian added, “I really didn’t think the establishment media could possibly sink any lower than it already has in recent years. This is a new low – a malicious fabrication from top to bottom, designed solely to defame a best-selling book, its author and publisher.”

Later, after the “news report” had circulated widely and generated widespread misinformation, the magazine added an “Update” in the form of a note at the bottom of the story, explaining it had “committed satire.”

Assuming the legitimacy of Obama’s recently released birth document, and ignoring the other legal issues concerning the president’s constitutional eligibility for office that are explored in the book, the note claimed the “core premise and reason to exist” for the book was “gutted by the news cycle.”

“Are its author and publisher chastened? Well. No. They double down, and accuse the president of the United States of perpetrating a fraud on the world by having released a forged birth certificate. … This is despicable, and deserves only ridicule. That’s why we committed satire,” the note said.

Esquire did not respond immediately to a WND email and telephone call requesting comment.

On April 27, with great fanfare, Obama finally released his “birth certificate” after years of stonewalling, defending against dozens of lawsuits brought by citizens wanting to see it, claiming he had already released it and ridiculing anybody who said he had not released it.

However, the document released by the White House was entirely typed. Only the signatures and two dates at the very bottom were “handwritten.” What Fukino described is apparently a different document from what Obama released to the public.

Other problems surrounding the president’s newly released “birth certificate” include:

Believe that their president, Barack Obama – after years of ignoring the millions of citizens who, according to repeated polls, doubt his official nativity story and just want the truth regarding his birth, his past and his loyalties – has simply been playing games with the public and hiring lawyers to block release of his birth certificate, only to do it now, after years of needless stonewalling.

Believe there may have been a real reason Obama adamantly refused to release his birth certificate all these years – meaning he had something real to hide and still does. And that perhaps the latest birth certificate, a copy of a copy of a document, posted on the Internet like the last one, is fraudulent.

Since neither choice is very palatable to most Americans, the release of Jerome Corsi’s “Where’s the Birth Certificate” will present a third choice: the sure understanding that, based on the U.S. Constitution and the framers’ original intent, Barack Obama is not qualified to be president of the United States.